British rail and bus company Arriva Plc posted a 7 percent rise in annual profit on March 06 and said it would continue its expansion drive into continental Europe this year. Arriva, which provides more than 1 billion passenger journeys per year from operations in nine countries, said its European order book was up 18 percent year-on-year to 4 billion pounds ($6.6 billion).
"We're very pleased with our strategy... We're always investigating opportunities in existing markets and keeping a watch on markets we're not in at the moment," Chief Executive David Martin told reporters.
Growth has been boosted by continued expansion into Europe, with acquisitions and contracts in Germany, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Portugal and the Netherlands. One of London's largest bus operators, Arriva said it made an operating profit of 128 million pounds ($212 million) in 2007. Analysts' average forecast for earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) was 130 million pounds, according to a Reuters Estimates poll.
Revenue was up 16 percent at 2 billion pounds. The final dividend was up 10 percent at 17.06 pence, giving a total dividend for the year of 22.65 pence.
Arriva shares dipped 0.4 percent to 684.5 pence by 0930 GMT after hitting a one-week high of 710 pence at the start of the session, to value the business at around 1.36 billion pounds.